Sapphic
by kurama-sweethart
Summary: [COMPLETE] 30 themed drabbles for the 30 Nights challenge, featuring the two characters Riza Hawkeye and Maria Ross. [YURI]
1. 1 through 10: Darkness and Hope

**Sapphic  
****By Kurama Sweethart  
****Fandom:** Fullmetal Alchemist  
**Pairing:** Riza Hawkeye x Maria Ross  
**Warning:** These themes follow no chronological or specific timeline and are in now way related to each other. Each of the thirty drabbles may be very heavy with yuri themes, or some could be viewed as just a platonic relationship, depending on the point of view of the reader.

Written for the LiveJournal community 30 Nights and dedicated to _Just A Rambling Romantic_, just because.

* * *

**Theme #1: You Were Never Mine to Begin With  
****Words: 234**

It had begun with two gun slinging military women with only one thing in common: each other. If one of them had been a male, hell, if both of them had been male: the two of them wouldn't have been able to meet like they had, every Saturday afternoon for lunch and shooting. It wasn't romantic, shooting lead into human-shaped targets, made of plywood. It wasn't romantic, the smell of oil and gunpowder and sweat. It wasn't romantic, the sound of bullets and grunts and metal on metal.

After a while, Maria began to live for their rendezvous each weekend, looking forward to the occasion and canceling all appointments that might interfere. She began to think of it as something that was hers, something that was only for her to keep and cherish and look back on with a smile.

It wasn't romantic; but it was hers.

But like a favorite song on the radio; like a moonlit night, dusted with stars; like a clear, soft dream of forever; all things had to come to an end.

It had begun with two gun slinging military women with only one thing in common: they weren't who they wanted to be.

And when Riza canceled that Saturday, for the first time in five years to visit the General, in the hospital, Maria realized that what had been taken from her hadn't been hers to begin with.

**

* * *

****Theme #2: I'm Willing to Sacrifice Anything for You  
****Words: 221**

"I'm moving back to West City." Maria said suddenly one evening, not looking up from her dinner. "To see my father."

Utterly taken aback, Riza swallowed and sat down her fork. "He had another stroke?" She asked slowly, biting her lip. She wanted to be supportive, no matter how difficult it might be.

"The doctor doesn't know how long he has." She continued, not looking up from her plate. "I'm being transferred, I have to move into my apartment next week." Maria's voice was low, as if she were drained of strength. Suddenly, Riza noticed how old she looked.

Without a second thought, she reached across the table and grabbed her lover's hand. "Then I'm going with you." One of them had to be strong, now.

"No." Maria said sternly, finally looking up and into her eyes. "You… you need to stay here with the colonel. That's what we agreed on, remember? If things weren't convenient anymore, we were going to-"

Smiling, Riza pressed their lips together, to silence her. "That was three years ago."

"But, what will you-" Maria began, shaking her head.

It was then, in that moment, that Maria was sure her lover had gone insane. Riza laughed, kissing her again and again until her lips were swollen and suddenly nothing felt important anymore. "Does it really matter?"

**

* * *

****Theme #3: Find Me in the Dark  
****Words: 271**

The military had been something far away and distant; like it existed in another world, another place, another time. Maria's parents had cut out her life for her: marry, have children, pursue no career other than nursing and fitting into the stereotype of what made a happy woman. What made a _real_ woman.

But when Maria had come home one night, as a teenager with her hair cut short and her skirts packed away, her mother had called her a dyke and her father had beaten her, leaving her on their doorstep with nothing to remember who she was and nowhere to remind her of where she was going.

The days turned into weeks and the weeks turned into months and after a while she didn't bother looking for a place to stay because no matter where she went, no one wanted a sad, lost little girl who had been kicked out for being unnatural. No one wanted a girl who kept getting thinner and whose hair was starting to grow back and whose face kept loosing color.

Except, of course, for her.

"You can stay with me." Said the boyish blonde girl, helping her to her feet. "But you have to join the military, with me, too."

"The military?" Maria had asked groggily, leaning against her savior. "Why would anyone want to do that?"

The boyish girl smiled sadly and looked at the towering, stone building that was Central Headquarters. "To be strong. To protect someone."

"I'd like to protect you." Maria had said, but she wasn't sure if malnutrition had caused her to hallucinate the girl smiling and holding her tighter.

**

* * *

****Theme #4: Darkness in Her Heart  
****Words: 230**

Maria had been too young to see the war, but she knew it must have been terrible. Where else could there be, to cause someone to be so immune to suffering? Firing her pistol into his body came so easily to Riza- Maria couldn't pull the trigger without flinching, couldn't look at the blood without wanting to cry.

"You get used to it," Riza had said, reloading another magazine. "I don't like to do it, but it's necessary."

Those words haunted Maria every time recoil raced up her arm. The words haunted her as Riza shot the man who killed General Mustang, nine, ten, eleven times; haunted her as Riza kept shooting until there were no more bullets and she could do nothing but sob uncontrollably over his body.

"I don't like to do it." She had said again, years after. "But killing him made me glad I know how to shoot."

Maria never touched her gun after that, and lost her job with the military because of it. Like it really mattered, anyway. She was gone because Riza was gone because he was gone. Not the other way around.

Maria had been too young to see the war, but she knew it must have been wonderful. Where else could there be, to cause someone to love a man like him so much that her heart turned black and cold?

**

* * *

****Theme#5: Release My Darkness; Give Me Warmth  
****Words: 224**

Riza was a military woman; she had to be strong, had to be indifferent, had to follow orders without question and do everything according to some preconceived notion of a soldier.

That was her darkness, Maria knew. What was Riza's greatest strength was also her greatest weakness.

Fortunately for both of them, there were times when the sun crept through the night and lit it, warming it, giving life to the woman who could be so extraordinarily unbridled and free that Maria never wanted to see the sunset again.

"Dear god, Riza," She panted to the woman who wasn't anything but a puzzle whose pieces never fit; to the lover that was a constant maze of changing walls; to the woman who was nothing but a contradiction to everything that she really was. "_Please_."

With a wink and a smile, she'd give it to her, fast and slow and rough and gentle all at once and it was always then that epiphany broke through the clouds like sun in a rainstorm and Maria realized that it was she that had freed Riza Hawkeye from her bounds.

And when it was all over and Maria could think without seeing bursts of light behind her eyes, she knew that it was she that had tamed the wild creature that was Riza Hawkeye and that it was she that Riza had accepted the ring from, not the colonel or anyone else-

She never could figure out why Maria loved the sunrise so much.

**

* * *

Theme #6: Stolen Heart  
****Words: 229**

Since the day that Maria had laid eyes on Lieutenant Hawkeye, she knew that her heart was stolen; unavailable, unreachable, untouchable. It belonged to a scarred war-hero who liked to think he was everything he wasn't because why else would she leave, time and time again, their life behind to be with him?

She would always remember him as the man who stole her lieutenant's heart.

And although he loved her, Danny knew about hearts and the thieves who steal them, so he invited her to a drink at the local tavern and when _he_ stumbled in from the rain, she thought she must have had one too many glasses of scotch.

"She doesn't love me," He began, sipping his whiskey easily, fiery as his namesake. "I don't think she ever did." There was something burning in his eyes that night and Maria knew she was definitely drunk if she wasn't able to see it.

When she finally made it home that night and she was there, waiting, Maria knew that not all missing things were stolen, but maybe just borrowed or maybe Riza had just realized how lost she had really been when she realized that she loved the woman that had followed her from the beginning, not the man that she had been following.

Roy would always remember her as the woman who stole his lieutenant's heart.

**

* * *

Theme #7: ****First Sunlight After the Darkness  
****Words: 259**

The first time they had made love in Riza's flat, Maria traced the outline of the moon on the window and watched the snow dance slowly towards the ground afterwards, wishing and swearing and cursing on whatever was good and right and solid that the moment would last forever instead of ending like it inevitably would.

Like it would every other night afterwards, with Riza and Maria leaving for work and pretending to be uninterested and not even acquainted enough with each other to say good morning or good afternoon or see you tomorrow, chief.

But then they could go home together, kissing and touching and loving like she was sure no one had ever loved before, and it would be amazing until it ended, once again.

The fifty-seventh time they had made love in Riza's flat, Maria traced the outline of the sun on the window and watched the rays flood in, wishing and swearing and cursing on whatever was good and right and solid that the moment would last forever instead of ending like it inevitably would.

Like it would whenever the colonel was transferred and Riza would move back to East City, buy a new apartment and leave Maria alone, each time, wishing and waiting and wondering when she would come back home again.

But that was her peace after the destruction; that was her hope after the war; that was her sunlight after the darkness, and it always would be. It always would be every time Riza came back to her, time and time again.

**

* * *

Theme #8: ****One Last Date  
****Words: 227**

It was one of those places that liked to pretend it was casual; lit by hazy lanterns that hung too close to the table, adorned in tacky floral arrangements and harboring a smell of sizzling fish and boiled rice. However, the food was nothing less than divine and served with a check that promised to wipe out paychecks for the next month and a half.

Never the less, it was a restaurant that was the first and last place that Maria thought she would ever see Riza Hawkeye.

"Word is that they have less than a thousand men on the front lines." Riza said, sickeningly calm. "It's voluntary, this time, what with the parliament. But I signed up."

Maria smiled, never ceasing to be amazed at the bravery of her comrade. "I can't ask you to be supportive." Riza went on, lifting a hand to illustrate. She only did so when she was feeling pressured or especially tense. "And I can't ask you to wait for me, because the General says that this one… this one is different."

When silence reigned save for the low murmur of patrons around them and the clink of silverware, Riza continued. "I hadn't expected you to be upset about being left behind, but…" She trailed off, suspiciously glancing at Maria's grin.

"Don't ask, don't tell." Maria reminded, shrugging. "They haven't asked me yet."

**

* * *

Theme #9: ****When All Hope is Lost  
****Words: 200**

Bullets rained for innumerable days and infinite nights, falling from the sky like fiery messengers from hell. Clouds of smoke obscured the sky like dark, ominous curtains, moth-eaten from age and stained from the bloodshed. War was supposed to be over, now, what with the Fuhrer gone and the Parliament taking over. War was supposed to be just a passage in a history book; just an unforgiving nightmare in the sleep of a soldier.

Now, it was much more.

It was reality.

Every night Maria crawled into the arms of someone strong, biting her lip until it bled so as to hold back the tears, wondering why on earth the powers that be decided that now, of all times, there be another rebellion.

They were supposed to be together. Riza had moved in and Maria had become a major and Roy's wounds were healing and Alphonse was getting his memories back and _damn it_, _this wasn't how it was supposed to be!_

But it was reality.

And every night Maria crawled into the arms of Lieutenant Hawkeye, biting her lip until it bled and kissing her long and hard, glad that someone could remain strong when all hope was lost.

**

* * *

Theme #10: ****Together Always  
****Words:** **166**

Promiscuity, in the eyes of the government, was a gray, vague term that encompassed many areas: adultery, incest, fraternization, homosexuality, treason and of course, forbidden alchemy, all fell into the category of what was considered wicked, lewd and vile.

Riza was sure that what they were doing now fell into at least half of the category.

"Well," Maria stated thoughtfully, tracing invisible patterns on her lover's stomach. "Homosexuality is obvious."

And she had laughed and buried her face into the short, dark locks at the back of her neck, wondering idly what exactly the punishment was for promiscuity. "Fraternization." She breathed.

"Of course," Maria continued, closing her eyes. "And seeing as that counts as going against military order, treason, as well."

Riza hummed a reply and nosed the soft skin beneath her chin, putting little effort into shrugging her shoulders. "It doesn't really matter, as long as that court-martial has room for two of us."

"You've got that right." Maria giggled, flipping her over and pouncing.

* * *

_TBC_. Part 1 of 3. 


	2. 11 through 20: Times and Loves

**Sapphic, _Chapter 2  
_****_By Kurama Sweethart_  
****#30 Themes for 30Nights  
****Fandom:** Fullmetal Alchemist  
**Pairing:** Riza Hawkeye x Maria Ross  
**Warning:** These themes follow no chronological or specific timeline and are in now way related to each other. Each of the thirty drabbles maybe very heavy with Yuri themes, or some could be viewed as just a platonic relationship, depending on the point of view of the reader.  
**Author's Note:** Thanks to everyone who reviewed! This chapter hopefully will begin to take off towards their manga interactions more, as oppose to sticking with anime canon as in previous chapters.

* * *

**Theme #11: You Will Never Look At Me  
****Words:** **251**

She hadn't seen the blow coming- how could she? - When the flames engulfed her and the harsh chemicals seared her eyes, beautiful and curious, rendering them sightless forever. Even now, in times of peace, a radical group planted a newly developed weapon of warfare, lovingly nestled in the pipes of Central HQ plumbing; a nuclear explosion that caused death for miles.

She was lucky to be alive, the doctors told Maria, as if that would comfort her. She wasn't even allowed in the hospital room. Family only, they said, as if that meant something to her. Lover of many years left to a sterile, unforgiving sitting room while Riza lay in a crisp, white hospital bed, alone and- and _dying._

She was lucky to be alive, the doctors told Maria, even as she clumsily shuffled about the room, arms and hands and beautiful, gentle fingers outstretched and groping for something familiar and stable and comforting in the new, cruel darkness.

"There's nothing we can do." The doctors told Maria, as if that made it better. As if it gave them some sort of twisted redemption. "Her sight is gone. Permanently."

She was lucky to be alive, Maria repeated to her, kissing those fingers that had once brought death to too many. As if that was supposed to comfort her, knowing that it could have been worse. Knowing that she couldn't fire a gun or bathe herself or see the children she loved play in the park. "Then why aren't you looking at me?" Riza asked darkly, receiving only Maria's sobs as response.

* * *

**Theme #12: Your Love Is Suffocating Me  
****Words: 217**

Riza's skin was as hot as the flame she loved, burning like the bullets that bit through flesh. Her kiss was as cool and calculated as the one she loved, smug and confident and self-assured like her colonel back in East City. Her touch was as false and forced and controlled as the façade she put up, as bloody and cruel as the way her eyes always lingered too long on his back and always glazed with longing for _him _as Maria pleasured her.

To suffocate the fire, you must first douse the flame.

One lover was _slain _at the hands of another; and Riza's walls only grew stronger. An innocent accused; a pacifist turned a murderer for so-called 'vengeance', and when Maria escaped to Xing, all she could think of was the way her eyes seemed so cold and distant.

Riza's skin was as hot as the flame she loved, not cool because that's what _he_ would have wanted. Her kiss was as smug and calculated as she was sure _his_ was, not loving, because that's what _he_ would have loved. Her touch was as false and controlled as _his_ façade, not gentle, because that was what _he_ would have needed.

No one ever told Riza that her lover had lived, and frankly, Maria didn't think she cared.

* * *

**Theme #13: Paint the Night With Stars  
Words: 213**

It was childish, Maria knew, climbing up onto the hill, mountains of the Briggs gray and faded in the distance. She hadn't watched the sky since before she left home, before the military, before she loved _her_.

It was a mystery, why she felt so compelled to watch them now, science that was so bright and enigmatic and farther than eyes could see. Science that had no purpose or real meaning; Science that was only speculation and theory; Science that really wasn't science at all.

It was amazing, watching them wink and fade and glow with no other purpose than to just _be_, burning and dying and being born again, like a phoenix from the ashes of an abyss no one really bothered to wonder about.

But it gave her comfort somehow, as she thought that maybe _she_ was watching them, too. That those stars and planets and clusters of rock were blessed with _her_ attention, even for a moment, as her life went on without her and with the Elrics and the Colonel and that cute little dog she adored.

It was childish, Maria knew, climbing onto the hill with Xing behind her and the heavens before her, the only real connection she had to Riza Hawkeye, now-

-Other than her faded memory.

* * *

**Theme #14: Guardian Angel  
Words: 204**

As a little girl, Riza's mother had told her that the angels would forever watch her, no matter who or what or where she was. She hadn't really understood what exactly an angel was or why they were always watching her, but every night after her bath she would kneel at her bedside and say their prayer, feeling her mother's hot breath on her neck as she too clasped her hands in prayer.

As a young woman, her father's fresh grave told her that she was better off with a pistol than with a bible, because angels couldn't protect her from gunfire. She hadn't really understood what exactly had her mother convinced the angels were protecting them, but as soon as she enlisted in the military she stopped wondering and started knowing.

As an adult, her lover's soft kisses and gentle touches told her that the angels were white and her pistol was black and that it was possible to swirl them together, like paint on the brush of an artist, creating a gray of love and hate and sex and war and pleasure and pain.

She didn't think angels held rifles and dressed in blue canvas, but now, at least, she had one.

* * *

**Theme #15: Telling You the Truth  
Words: 199**

The notion of saying things that weren't true had never been something she'd understood, even in her childhood as a strong, stony girl who preferred to shoot pebbles at birds than play hopscotch with the other children in their frilly, lacy dresses and polished shoes. Telling lies was stupid, for people that weren't strong enough to take the truth.

She'd stuck by that ideal, through her days at academies and camps and training, as a lieutenant to a lazy colonel who liked nothing more than to do just what she had spent her whole life trying not to; lying and joking and teasing with false information and sad eyes hidden behind a smirk.

"Do you love me?" Maria had asked, soft and unsure and almost scared of the answer as she curled her hand lazily around the dip in Riza's waist.

The notion of saying things that weren't true had never been something she'd understood, although now, Riza thought, she could understand why someone might.

Telling lies was stupid and childish, for people that weren't strong enough to handle the truth. Although now, Riza knew, lies weren't for the people who did the telling.

"Of course, Maria."

* * *

**Theme #16: You Don't Know What You've Done to Me  
Words: 225 **

The night was dark, darker than any Maria could remember. The storm tore at the roof, all wind and rain and lightening too close for comfort. The bed-sheets were icy and sticky and hot all at once and if it weren't for Riza's steady breath warming her shoulder, Maria knew she would have left hours ago, before their eyes had met or their fingers brushed or their lips locked without either really realizing it was happening.

Vaguely, she wondered if she smiled like that on purpose, so sorry and comforting and beautiful all at once that Maria's knees went weak and suddenly breathing wasn't necessary. She wondered if she put her hair up like that on purpose, so that towards the end of the day when lines of fatigue and worry etched her eyes her hair would fall out in wisps around her face. She wondered if she knew how curious her eyes were, red and brown and gold all at once without ever _really_ changing.

Riza shifted and even though she was awake didn't open her eyes, only murmured and draped an arm between Maria's breasts and smiled.

The night was dark, darker than any she could remember, and even though normal, coherent and reasonable Maria would have left hours ago, she didn't think the change was all that bad.

* * *

**Theme #17: Wings  
Words: 219**

It was quite the surprise when, after receiving yet another award for her achievements in the military, Maria asked if there was nothing that Riza Hawkeye _couldn't_ do. For a moment she had thought about laughing or smiling or jokingly saying that there wasn't, but before any real, acceptable answer could come out, yet another idea came to mind. "Fly," Riza had said, offhandedly, and that was that.

What exactly the Technological Studies Bureau was working on, no one really knew, which also caught Riza as strange when Maria became adamant to join its ranks. There were many things shared between both of them, but for some reason, _her reason_, was safely guarded.

"What is this?" Riza asked years later, puzzled at the small ticket Maria had placed into her hands. But she had only smiled and shrugged and grabbed her by the hand to drag her off to a warehouse in South-Central.

It was quite the surprise when, after clambering into the large, oddly shaped machine, that it took off into the air, dipping and spinning and _flying_. "This is what you've been working on?" Riza asked, and it would be the second question that had gone unanswered that day.

"Now you've done everything." Maria whispered over the whir of the engine.

Riza heard it all the same.

* * *

**Theme #18: Listen to the Music  
Words: 182**

The phonograph was given to her by her father, and it was old and dusty and chipped in all the wrong places. She didn't have any records to play, anyway, which is how it managed to get stashed in the broom closet in the guestroom of Maria's apartment. Years went by; lullabies and rhapsodies and old, tinkering love songs were long forgotten in the shuffle of military duties, paperwork and visiting East City, on occasion.

"Run away to Xing," Roy had murmured to her, placing a map and a small package into her hands. "I'll take care of everything here."

And she had swallowed loudly, as if doing so would keep her heart from leaping into her mouth. Turning the package over carefully in her hands, Maria looked up at him as he prepared her corpse. "Could you tell her something?"

Riza was surprised to find, after getting the suggestion from the colonel, that the records were ridiculously appropriate.

Almost too appropriate.

Then again, she mused as the soft, dipping music began to play; Maria was never exactly a woman of words.

* * *

**Theme #19: Crying All Night for You  
Words: 210**

Sometimes they'd forget how much they meant to each other in the swells of time and distance and too-long letters that didn't say enough. Maria would call after duty from the little payphone outside headquarters, grinning into the receiver and talking about the weather when she meant say 'I love you' and relaying news about the Elrics when she wanted to say 'I miss you' and asking about the colonel when she really meant 'I want you'.

When they'd hang up, after goodbyes that said everything they didn't mean, Maria would trudge to her apartment feeling worse than she had and wondering if it'd be easier to not answer the letters or pass the payphone after work and concentrate on things she _could_ _have_.

Sometimes they'd forget how much they meant to each other in the heat and sweat of sex that said what they were feeling and not what they were thinking and Maria wondered if _this_ was really what she worked so hard for.

But then Riza would smile into her neck and hold her tight and kiss her lazily and slow and deliciously messy and run her fingers down Maria's spine and suddenly she'd remember why she cried every night, clinging her pillow and murmuring Riza's name.

* * *

**Theme #20: Never Leave Me Again  
Words: 223 **

Maria wasn't sure when, exactly, she had coined the term 'lovers', but it felt pleasant and appropriate on her lips. Before, they had never given a name to it, 'fucking' too vulgar and 'making love' too committed. Maybe it was when she began to discover the little things about Riza Hawkeye that weren't typically things she read about in romance novels, which were all breasts and legs and mouths and undying love.

Riza was too different, too _special_, Maria corrected, to be forced to fall into the rut of what made a _typical_ lover. Her tongue never pushed or nudged; it swirled, slowly and surely and sometimes damnably controlled. Her fingers never parted or penetrated; they caressed, soft enough that Maria sometimes forgot they were there. Her waist dipped roughly and her navel was slightly turned up, but it was unbalanced and abnormal and just so wonderfully perfect all at once.

They were too different, _too special_, to fall into the rut of what made typical lovers.

Maria wasn't sure when she had decided that 'love' was an suitable term for her feelings towards Riza, but it tasted slightly sweet on her tongue and caused her knees to collapse in on themselves. It was appropriate, she supposed, that _lovers_ would _love_ one another, but it surprised her all the same.

But then again, they were too different, _too special_, to fall into the rut of normalcy.

* * *

_TBC_. Part 2 of 3. 


	3. 21 through 30: Tears and Souls

**Sapphic  
By Kurama Sweethart  
Fandom:** Fullmetal Alchemist  
**Pairing:** Riza Hawkeye x Maria Ross  
**Warning:** These themes follow no chronological or specific timeline and are in now way related to each other. Each of the thirty drabbles may be very heavy with yuri themes, or some could be viewed as just a platonic relationship, depending on the point of view of the reader.

**Just A Rambling Romantic:** Well, here they are, just for you!I hope you enjoy them!

**THIS CHAPTER INCLUDES, WHILE NOT EXTREMELY GRAPHIC, SEX BETWEEN TWO CONSENSUAL ADULT WOMEN. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED. **

* * *

**Theme #21: Seeking for You  
****Words: 126**

Riza had been with few lovers; each more dull and uninteresting than the last. A man who had been charming in the beginning but became lackluster and just like all the rest, in time; a woman who had seemed more interested in what Riza could give her than what she could get; a man who's eyes gave away too little and his mouth too much.

What she was looking for, she wasn't sure.

Each one seemed to be missing something. Each just a hesitant touch, a knowing smile, an intelligent conversation less than what she wanted.

After a while, Riza began to realize that she needed to stop being so picky.

Because no matter how much she wanted them to be, none of them were Maria.

* * *

**Theme #22: Love You Until the Very End  
****Words: 151**

Dating in school held little interest for Riza Hawkeye; she much preferred the company of her textbooks or her father's rifle than some narrow-minded _boy_ who's only idea of a good time was to suck out her tonsils with his tongue.

Likewise, Maria Ross wanted nothing more to do with the boys that glanced at her from the corners of their eyes than she did with the rattlesnakes she shot on her parent's farm.

But neither thought they'd fall for _each other_.

Dating in the military held little interest for Riza Hawkeye; she much preferred the company of Hayate to the one-sided banters of Havoc and Breda.

Likewise, Maria Ross thought the pathetic attempts at seduction Broche put on her were less than amusing, and kept out of the dating scene for that very reason.

But then again, neither thought they'd still be together.

* * *

**Theme #23: Like An Art Piece  
****Words: 179**

Riza Hawkeye was like a fortress; strong, protected and shielded from whatever came her way. Maria's subtlety went unnoticed, her advances unreturned and her lingering looks ignored. There was nothing that could break through the barrier that Riza kept up between herself and the people around her.

Riza Hawkeye was like a churning, tossing ocean; brutal in its strength, cruel in it's mercy and unyielding to the sands that confined it. She was loyal to the colonel, yet at the same time, controlled his every move with calculated and cunning precision. She was everything he could have asked for in a subordinate and everything he feared in an enemy.

Riza Hawkeye was like an art piece; painted with care to perfection, broad streaks of golden hair and flaming, determined eyes. She was flawless in her loyalty, blemishing in her honesty. She was vigilant with her words yet careless with her actions. She was the body of contradiction and the soul of compromise.

She was everything Maria ever dreamed of, and yet everything that haunted her.

**

* * *

Theme #24: My Heart Is Bleeding for You…  
****Words: 151**

It was Maria who was bleeding, but Riza who felt the pain.

The bullet was made of lead, typical ammunition for the Creatans; the mineral was plentiful in their homeland. It was a sluggish and ineffective bullet, made more for wounding than killing. It succeeded in tearing out the flesh and muscle of Maria's shoulder, and now; that was all that mattered.

"She's going to die of lead poisoning if we don't get it out soon," said one of the doctors as Riza pressed a cold cloth to her lover's forehead. "And could someone please get on bandaging this? The woman is going to bleed to death!"

As she looked on at the survivors, at those who were shot multiple times and lived; she couldn't help but wonder why it was they fate had spared and not herself.

It was Maria who had bleed, but even now, Riza who felt the pain.

* * *

**Theme #25: Release of the Evils  
****Words: 181**

The feeling was nowhere and everywhere at once; concentrated far and wide and all over. Maria wanted and couldn't think all at once, needing and loving and knowing simultaneously.

Riza ran her fingertips along the side of her waist and Maria suddenly remembered to breathe again. She was sure the feeling hadn't even registered when her breasts ached in protest, the woman above her squeezing them almost painfully.

"Riza…" She whispered, and for a second she wasn't sure if she had said it at all. Her skin crawled where the touch had been, as if fire were ignited on her very skin. Sparks flew up and down her torso and her fingers twitched from the spot behind Riza's neck.

"And you said you wanted to go to sleep," Riza murmured, an echo amongst the rustling of sheets.

Maria was about to say something smart in retaliation; something about paperwork and five cases and taking Hayate out before dinner and just wanting a good nights rest and-

But suddenly those fingers were _elsewhere_ and Maria dropped the thought of responding all together.

* * *

**Theme #26: Frozen Moment at First Sight  
****Words: 179**

There was a woman in the military for every two hundred and seventy-seven men. It was a figure that Maria had looked up in some encyclopedia somewhere, when she had first become interested in becoming a soldier.

Since then, all hopes of finding someone interesting in the line of duty diminished to one in two hundred and seventy-seven.

That is, until Fate decided that the one in two hundred and seventy-seven not only be an independent, strong-willed woman; but also breathtakingly attractive.

Maria stopped suddenly, causing Broche to charge into her back, toppling them both. "Give a signal or something!" He muttered, rubbing his head.

Said attractive woman looked at her oddly for a moment, before raising an eyebrow and entering the office of Colonel Mustang.

Maria thought she'd never see her again, but fate decided that Riza Hawkeye wasn't just a woman in a government of men, nor was she a pretty face with soft features in a swarm of chiseled profiles and rough cheeks: she was what mattered when it felt like nothing did.

* * *

**Theme #27: Soulless Without You  
****Words: 196 **

"More." Maria's tongue slipped down her neck, teeth pressing into the pulse throbbing beneath. Riza made a breathy noise and set her jaw, the muscles in her face tensing and relaxing almost at random. It was a morbid and gruesome game they played, over and over each night.

"More." How does one satisfy the unsatisfied? Biting her own lips, Maria dropped her hand between Riza's legs, pressing her palm against the thick military canvas, watching the way her lover's nose scrunched and wondered idly if such an expression meant pleasure or disgust: or maybe both.

"More." Riza mouthed again, still not opening her eyes. Ignoring the sting in her own groin, Maria smiled and went diligently to work, all notions of foreplay forgotten. The game had many rules, and sometimes they changed without warning. "_More_." She urged, and with rushed precision, Maria unzipped the material, sliding it down her lover's hips.

It was a morbid and gruesome game they played, over and over each night; satisfying the unsatisfied and soothing a lust that went deeper than physical attraction.

But by now, Maria mused darkly as she kissed up a thigh and down a stomach; this game was her life.

* * *

**Theme #28: I Feel Safe With You By My Side  
****Words: 131**

They were in different jurisdictions, different departments, lived completely different lives; they dated different people, ate at different restaurants and they had both sworn to protect different people.

"You can't go alone." Riza had said, popping a new magazine into her pistol like second nature.

They were in different cities, answered to different superiors, lived completely different lives.

Maria felt like smiling, but the expression somehow felt foreign. "Sure I can."

They were in different jurisdictions, they dated different people and lead very different lives that somehow connected with flawless precision.

"You can," Riza replied softly, kissing her slowly; lovingly. "But you won't."

They were different people in different cities with different priorities. But somehow, it didn't matter.

The answer just came so easily, now, and Maria kissed back. "Not anymore."

* * *

**Theme #29: I Will Never Hurt You  
****Words: 187**

Perhaps it was the dark, closely cut hair that attracted her, raven black with an almost unkempt, sloppy quality. Maybe it was the same deeply set eyes, almost black, glazed with this determined, moral depth in a way that only those with an understanding of what it meant to hurt could. Or it could be the pale, clear skin that freckled below the jaw and dimpled behind the lips that attracted her most. Who could really say?

Sometimes she felt that she was just a substitute for him; other times she felt as if he were just a stand-in while Maria was in Central. Did it really matter, at this point, what they meant to her or why? Did it, in the grand scheme of things, make it any less real?

She hadn't meant for either to find out, but looking back it was inevitable. How could she have kept it a secret? They worked in the same building, had the same connections, the same priorities, the same lover.

It had been inevitable, the hurt and pain that Riza caused. But it didn't make her feel any better.

* * *

**Theme #30: It Hurt To See You Cry  
****Words: 166**

The feeling wasn't foreign, no; she was used to such a sin by now, accustomed to it's malicious eyes and fingers like razorblades, scratching and clawing it's way up her throat every single time that she saw those dark, brooding eyes meet hers.

Envy was perhaps the most elusive, most cunning of the seven. He crawled his way into her heart, into her very soul, kissing it into submission time and time again. Soon, he became an addiction; a sweet, lingering addiction that burned, ironically, like a flame.

He was the need, the want and desire for more skin, more contact, more anything. More eye contact, more long nights alone. MoreMoreMore.

Envy thrashed when Roy had fallen, shot and bleeding. He had gnashed his teeth and tore Maria's heart to shreds as Riza cried for him- and only him. And yet, ironically, the tears where exactly what quieted the green monster within her. Suddenly, who Riza cried for didn't matter.

The point was that it hurt.

* * *

**_End._**


End file.
